D60 Shashtiamsha: the chart of karma and the thread of your life

What is the D60 chart in Vedic astrology?

The D60 is the last of Parashara’s sixteen charts, the Shodashavarga, and the finest of the divisional charts: shashti means sixty, amsha a portion. Where the D1 (Rasi) shows the body and the stage of this life, the D60 shows what you bring with you as you enter it: karma, the sum of past actions that shapes the ground.

Tradition distinguishes accumulated karma (sanchita), the portion that ripens in this life (prarabdha) and the karma you create every day (kriyamana). The D60 mostly describes the second: a terrain, with its easy stretches and its steep slopes. The third stays in your hands. Reading the D60 is not reading a verdict: it is spotting the levers.

Why does Parashara give the D60 the greatest weight?

To measure a planet’s strength across the sixteen charts, Parashara shares out twenty points (the vimshopaka strength, “out of twenty”): the D60 gets 4, more than the D1 (3.5) and the D9 (3). A planet that shines in the D1 but sits in a difficult D60 portion keeps its promises at the cost of effort; a modest planet in the D1, placed in a benefic portion, finds unexpected support.

It is also the chart astrologers turn to when telling twins apart. Born a few minutes apart, they almost always share the D1 and often the D9; the Ascendant of the D60, though, has often moved on between the two births, and the threads of their lives diverge.

How is the D60 calculated? The sixty portions and their names

Each sign is cut into sixty portions of 30′. The planet’s degree within its sign, multiplied by two, gives the rank of its portion (keep the whole number, then add one); the D60 sign is then counted from the sign itself. Example: a planet at 1°10′ Aries sits in the third portion, and the third sign counting from Aries is Gemini. Its degree in the D60: 1°10′ multiplied by sixty, which gives 70°, that is 10° Gemini.

Each portion bears a name, that of a deity or a quality, benefic or difficult. In odd signs (Aries, Gemini, Leo…), the series opens with Ghora, Rakshasa, Deva and Kubera; in even signs, Parashara has it read in reverse. Our planet at 1°10′ Aries therefore falls in Deva, a benefic portion. A few examples:

• Benefic portions: Deva (the god), Kubera (the keeper of riches), Amrita (the nectar of immortality), Indu (the Moon), Komala (the tender one), Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshvara (the three great gods).
• Difficult portions: Ghora (the terrible), Rakshasa (the demon), Garala (poison), Kantaka (the thorn): they show where karma asks for conscious effort.

The site shows the D60 like the other charts: signs, degrees and houses. You can find a portion’s name from the planet’s degree in the D1, using the rule above. A difficult portion does not foretell misfortune: it marks work in progress.

Why does the D60 need the birth time to the minute?

In the D1, the Ascendant changes sign about every two hours on average. In the D60, it moves sixty times faster: the chart’s Ascendant changes about every two minutes, a little faster or slower depending on the sign. A time written as “around 2 pm”, or rounded to five minutes, is not enough to pin it down.

The planets move far more slowly. The Moon changes portion about every hour, the Sun stays a dozen hours in the same one, Jupiter and Saturn several days. With an approximate time, the D60 planets therefore stay roughly right; it is the chart’s Ascendant and houses that need the minute. In France, the full copy of the birth record shows the time: it is the firm basis for this chart, and the site states for each chart the time accuracy it needs.

Reading the D60 with the D1 and D9: where you come from, where you are going

The D60 is never read on its own. The most telling rule comes down to three charts: the D1 shows where you are, the stage of this life; the D9 (Navamsha) shows where you are going, your dharma and what the soul ripens; the D60 shows where you come from, the karma you bring. One planet, read in all three, tells a trajectory. Look first at:

• The D60 Ascendant and its ruler: the overall tone of the karma, the angle from which it appears.
• Planets in houses 1, 4, 7 and 10 of the D60: those that weigh most in the thread.
• Planets in the same sign in the D1, the D9 and the D60: a deep strength, confirmed and matured.
• The Atmakaraka in the D60: the soul’s lesson, seen from its source (see the Jaimini karakas).
• The current period: a planet’s karma shows mostly during its Vimshottari dashas.

Example: Saturn in the 10th house of the D1, placed in a benefic portion and in the 1st house of the D60. Patient work is a merit you bring with you, and life confirms it slowly: Saturn slows things down so they last. Conversely, a Venus that shines in the D1 but sits in a difficult D60 portion points to a real talent, with an emotional pattern to untangle: recognizing it is already the lever.

The D60 and birth time rectification

Because it changes so quickly, astrologers use the D60 to rectify a birth time: they test the minutes around the recorded time, watch how the D60 Ascendant changes, and keep the one whose chart best matches the life, its major events and their dates, the dashas, the D9 and the D10. It is meticulous work that refines a known time to within a few minutes; it does not replace the birth record.

If your time is a round one (2:00 pm, 2:30 pm), read the D60 with caution and lean first on the D1 and the D9, which are less sensitive. For the overall method, see how to cross the charts: a D60 indication counts when another chart confirms it.

How to open the D60 on the site

The site calculates the D60 in the sidereal zodiac, with the Lahiri ayanamsa and Parashara’s division rule, like the nineteen other divisional charts. To open it:

1. Calculate your chart with the time on your birth record.
2. At the wheel, choose Vedic (sidereal), then D60 in the list of divisional charts.
3. Read the chart’s Ascendant, its houses and the signs of your planets: the site recalls what the chart covers and the time accuracy it needs.
4. Then open the D9 and go back to the D1: three views of the same planets.

In Your chart answers you, a question about karma or your life path draws on the D60 and the D9, and the answer says clearly when it is speaking in Vedic terms.